The Village Beside the Wall
Three Days Ago
Lem and Lemty are fighting inside Dan's house.
Dan quietly opens the door and enters: "The carriage is ready, you two heroes."
Lemty: (stops kicking Lem's butt) "Thank you, Mr. Dan."
Lem: (screams) "Save me! Save me, Mr. Dan!"
Dan: (turns his back and heads toward the kitchen) "I'll make you a beautiful coffin."
Lem: "Damn you."
Lem and Lemty leave the house and see the villagers standing in front of the house.
Person 1: (holding a basket of fruit) "Are you leaving now?"
Lemty: "Yes, we'll have to leave sooner or later."
Person 1: (hands her the basket) "Take this with you, it's a token of thanks from me."
Lemty: (takes the basket) "It wasn't necessary."
Person 1: "Come on, just take it."
Then another person comes forward and gives them more items, and the villagers gather and fill their carriage with all kinds of food and fruits.
Lem and Lemty: (bow their heads) "Thank you all."
A carriage pulled by two horses, open from the back.
Lem climbs to the driver's seat, pulls the reins, and the horses start moving, while the villagers bid them farewell loudly.
They stop in front of the foster house, and Lemty gets down: "Wait, I'll get Kalira and be back."
Lem: (with an angry face) "Just go already and bring her."
Lemty enters the house and looks around. The place feels warm as usual and beautiful, with the sounds of laughing children and some crying here and there.
She heads upstairs and enters the room that was given to Kalira.
She knocks on the door: "Can I come in, Kalira?"
Voice from inside: "Come in, Lemty."
Lemty enters the room.
Lemty: "You look really pretty when you're clean. Also, what are these clothes?"
Kalira: (embarrassed) "I don't know, Loni gave them to me."
The clothes were a shirt that exposed her belly and a short skirt.
Lemty: "She really has bad taste." (laughs) "Wait here, I'll be back quickly."
Lemty leaves the room and returns after a few minutes with a long coat, dark green in color.
Lemty: "Here, try wearing this over your clothes."
Kalira takes the coat and puts it on: "Aren't the sleeves a bit long?"
Lemty: "Come on, you look better than before. Let's go, Lem is waiting outside."
Lemty heads to the door, and Kalira follows her. Kalira stands in front of the room for a moment, then starts moving and reaches the house's door where Loni is waiting for them.
Loni: (looks at Kalira) "You look pretty, little one."
Kalira: "Thank you." (bows her head) "Also, thank you for taking care of me and Torrance."
Loni: "I'll be bored again, it seems like everyone is leaving."
Loni steps forward and takes out a silver hairpin with a silver apple emblem and places it on Kalira.
Loni: "Now you look complete. Keep it with you, a girl should always look beautiful."
Kalira: "I'm sorry, I can't give you anything in return."
Loni: "Just send me some letters, telling me about your journey and how you're doing."
Kalira: "I'll make sure to do that."
Lemty: "Come on, Loni, we're leaving."
Loni approaches Lemty and hugs her.
Then Loni opens the door for them, and they all leave.
When they stepped out, they found Lem and Torrance waiting in the carriage, quarreling as usual.
Lemty: "Alright, Loni. Take care."
Kalira and Lemty head to the carriage and get in the back.
Lemty: "Come on, move it, Lem."
The carriage starts moving, and they reach the village gate. Everyone waves goodbye from behind.
"Come back again!"
"Don't forget us!"
"Stay healthy!"
Lemty waves her hand back at them.
The carriage starts to get farther from the village, and the sounds begin to fade.
Torrance flies and sits on Kalira's shoulder: "You look different, girl."
Kalira: "It's thanks to Loni."
Lemty: "You can sleep a bit if you want, Kalira. We'll reach Darkis by noon."
Kalira: "It's okay, I'm not sleepy."
Lemty: (talks to Lem) "How much longer until the forest roads?"
Lem: "We'll reach those roads in an hour."
Kalira: "What's wrong with those roads?"
Lemty: "How did you get here without passing through them?"
Kalira: (looks at Torrance) "Thanks to him. He flew us here."
Lemty: (sighs) "That's why you don't know anything. Alright, listen: the main road splits into several paths. The direct one to the capital, another heading north but it's dangerous now, and the forest road. That one is the safest in terms of bandits and also the fastest way to reach our destination. But it has one flaw — it passes through the forests, so it's full of dangerous beasts. That's why we have to be careful once we reach there."
Kalira: "I know about the main road, but not the others."
Torrance: (boasting) "You brats haven't even thanked me yet for getting you here safely."
Kalira: "We'll thank you later when we reunite with Okais."
They keep talking, and an hour passes.
Lem starts to slow down the carriage, and the forests appear ahead.
Lem: "Get ready, Lemty. We've arrived."
Lemty: "Stay as quiet as possible. We don't want to make too much noise."
Kalira: "Okay."
Lemty takes out the small knife from her pocket — the one she took from Kalira when they first met: "Take this, keep it with you. I've marked it for you."
Kalira takes the knife, and everyone becomes silent. The carriage moves quietly, and they enter the forest, moving slowly. Lemty pulls out her blood and shapes it into a bow and arrows, getting ready for any threat coming their way.
Lem drives carefully, and they reach the middle of the forest. Everything was going fine.
Suddenly, something speeds past them, and the horses start panicking and neighing.
There are things moving between the trees, and sounds of tapping on the wood.
Lem creates his giant claymore sword and gets ready to fight anything.
Kalira: "What are those things?"
Lemty: (in a calm voice) "They're called forest guardians. They look like dogs but they're extremely fast and have very strong jaws. They can bite off a person's head in one go. Just stay behind me and you'll be fine."
Silence all around — only the sound of the moving carriage and the horses' steps.
Lem: "They're going to attack."
Kalira: (looks around quickly) "The sounds disappeared… maybe they backed off?"
Lemty: (prepares an arrow in her bow) "No, right before they attack, they go quiet. These beasts are smart. They wait until their prey lets its guard down."
Suddenly, one of the beasts jumps toward the carriage from between the trees.
It looks like a dog, but bigger. It has sharp fangs, drooling mouth, a horn in the middle of its head, black in color, with faint white hairs on its body.
Lemty fires an arrow at it and hits it in the head.
More of them appear, coming from everywhere. Lem slays them with his giant sword, and Lemty knocks them down with her arrows, and Lem starts speeding up the carriage.
While they're occupied, one of the beasts slips past and heads toward Kalira.
Lemty: "Kaliraaa, watch out!"
Torrance enlarges himself, uses his clawed hands, grabs the beast, and throws it away. Then he lets out a loud roar, causing the rest of the beasts to suddenly retreat.
Lem: "We're near the end of the road, hang on!"
Two minutes later, they exit the forest.
Lemty: "Kalira, are you okay?"
Kalira: "Yes, thanks to Torrance."
Kalira looks at Lem: "Lem, you're bleeding!"
Lemty: (rushes to him) "Stop the carriage, Lem! You're bleeding!"
Lem: "It's fine, just a small wound. Looks like I missed one. Let's just keep going."
Lemty: "Alright, stop up ahead. The wound might be poisoned."
To be continued…